Lee Chang-dong's 'Possible Love' Unveiled in Venice... "Questioning the Meaning of Human Relationships and Work"

[Financial News] "Can movies still connect people?"
Director Lee Chang-dong, who returned with his new film 'Possible Love' eight years after 'Burning', revealed that he fundamentally contemplated the reason for the existence of cinema during his long hiatus.
"Possible Love" was unveiled on the 6th (local time) at the 83rd Venice International Film Festival held in Venice, Italy. During the YouTube live broadcast of the official press conference for "Possible Love" that day, the host pointed out that Director Lee's films have consistently dealt with human relationships within society. Furthermore, the host shared the impression that in this work, the film goes a step further, with the "filmmaker's gaze"—which observes and records the world—functioning as another character in itself. The host also asked how Director Lee's cinematic world and thoughts on the act of filmmaking have changed over the past eight years.
The director revealed that he had fundamentally contemplated the reason for the existence of film. He said, "I felt that our lives have changed very rapidly over the past eight years," adding, "I thought that in that process, human relationships themselves are fundamentally changing." He further explained, "I pondered what power film can truly possess in an era like this, and whether it can still connect people."
'Possible Love' is a story about two couples who have lived different lives—a laid-off worker and his wife, and a documentary director and his husband—who meet through the production of a documentary and confront hidden desires and cracks in their relationships.

That dilemma takes shape through the documentary director Yeji (played by Cho Yeo-jeong) in the film. Yeji constantly questions what attitude she should adopt toward the lives of the people she films, and how much distance there should be between herself, holding the camera, and the people standing in front of it.
The director explained, "He is a character who constantly questions what the relationship between their story and my own should be," adding, "As a filmmaker, he is the figure closest to my identity and heart."
He has been constantly asking this question since he was active as a novelist in his youth.
Director Lee said, "Whether it was workers, minorities, or students fighting for democracy, while writing their stories, I always asked myself how close I really was to them and how much I was writing from their perspective," adding, "Even now, as I make films, that question does not leave my side."
Yeji's concerns are not limited to filmmakers alone. Director Lee viewed them as questions that extend not only to journalists who cover and convey the lives of others, but also to all contemporary workers seeking meaning and identity in their work.
In particular, this film is a story that developed from the motif of large-scale layoffs at major corporations. The director previously explained, "Just as a person's identity changes depending on the work they do, I thought that changes in labor could even change human identity."
On top of this, we are also facing the anxiety that artificial intelligence (AI) could rapidly replace human jobs. We live in an era where everyone harbors the fear that their work might disappear or lose its meaning.
The director stated, "It is connected to the fundamental questions of all workers in this era," adding, "I wanted to incorporate questions into the film about how we will live and survive in such times, and how we will find our self and identity, and to think about them together with the audience."
Meanwhile, 'Possible Love' has been invited to the competition section of the 83rd Venice International Film Festival. This marks the director's first entry into the Venice competition section in 24 years, since 'Oasis' in 2002. Sul Kyung-gu, Jeon Do-yeon, Zo In-sung, and Cho Yeo-jeong star in the film.
[email protected] Shin Jin-ah Reporter